I make this admission because Monday marked the beginning of “Screen-Free Week” – an annual international celebration during which participating children, families, schools and communities voluntarily commit to a seven-day screen fast.

What started in 1994 as “TV Turnoff Week,” this week isn’t a Ted Kaczynski-type crusade calling for total abandonment of all technology. The affiliated groups behind the push, including the Boston-based Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, recognize digital devices as an integral facet of modern life.

The goal isn’t abstinence – it’s balance. And, speaking for myself, I could use some balance – in the same way Morgan Spurlock, the creator of the documentary “Super Size Me” needed to lay off McDonald’s for a bit.

You’d think for someone who reads books as much as I do, this would be easy. But somewhere along the way, I got hooked.

Can’t blame my parents. I wasn’t allowed to have a “boob tube” in my bedroom until I was a senior in high school. And even then, it was a tiny black-and-white TV that needed a wire hanger to get reception and a pair of pliers to turn the channels.

We didn’t have cable or a VCR. I never had Atari or Sega (though I did have a Commodore 64 for a year or two). I didn’t own a game system until I bought a PlayStation when I was in my 20s.

I’ve never been an early adopter. I was the last person in my peer group to get a pager (for work). I was the last to get a cell phone, convert from cassette tapes to CDs, own a laptop or purchase a flat-screen TV.

Yet, today, my house has four working televisions and another three or so out-of-commission in the basement. Partly because I hate to sleep, I almost always drift off with the television on.

I am also known to have the bedroom, living room, and man cave TV on at the same time, tuned to the same program. That way, I don’t miss what I’m watching, as I move around the house. (Besides hating to sleep, I also don’t like to sit in one place for very long. Being a TV junkie doesn’t necessarily mean couch-potatohood).

I’ve never logged how many hours of screen time I imbibe every day. But, I’m sure it’s above average.

For starters, my job demands more time in front of a screen than a pizza delivery person spends behind the wheel of a car. Add to that an always-on TV and a smart phone on my hip like an insulin pump, and we’re talking about full-blown addiction.

If I leave the house and forget my phone, it’s enough to provoke a sense of primal paranoia, like I was Adam in the Garden of Eden and God said, “who told that you were naked?”

Josh Goslin, associate director for the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, told me he understands my struggle, both as a frequent tech flyer and as a parent.

But, he said, it helps to not think of it as some kind of monastic order that requires you to flog yourself as penance.

“People hear it and say, ‘Oh God,’ and focus on what they have to give up. But we encourage people to focus on what you gain. If you have an extra 30 hours in a week, think of what you could do with that time, even if it’s catching up on sleep. We’re all not getting enough sleep,” he said.

The spirit of the week, he said, was to call attention to how “out-of-whack” our reliance on digital media has become.

“Not that every week should be screen-free, but this is a way to hit pause and reflect on how dependent we’ve become – what’s good about it and what’s bad about – and use the week to make changes after the week is over,” he said.

Goslin said going screen-free is more difficult at the beginning.

“I encourage people to make plans for beginning of the week – a family game night, or going bowling. Make concrete screen-free plans, and then you can better confront the boredom or downtime and do something more spontaneous later in the week,” he said.

If you have to use a screen at home, Goslin suggested, be “very clear about being a conscious clicker. Or, if you have to use the phone, put it away for a certain period of time, put the remote in a drawer. Some people even cover their TV screens with a Screen-Free Week sign,” he said.

What about managing your child’s screen time? As a parent, Goslin said, “kids are an amazing resource when screens are taken away. They may belly ache at first, but as the week goes on they’ll come up with plenty of alternatives on their own.”

My wife is all in. “I could totally do that,” she told me. “You’re the one that might go into cardiac arrest.”

She thinks it will be harder for me than our son.

She’s right, of course. So we’re going for it. Outside of work- or school-related screen use, the Gonsalves family will be on a screen diet this week.

Sean Gonsalves can be reached at sgonsalves@capecodonline.com. Follow Sean Gonsalves on Twitter @SeanGonCCT.